Memorial Day

Elliott shared some Memorial Day Remembrances

earlier today on google reader, and those posts reminded me

of my grandfathers and their service in WWII.

Both of my grandfathers, and my step-grandfather served.

I don't know much about my step-grandfather's

service, but wanted to share a little about my grandfathers.

This is my Mom's Dad, Virgil.

He was drafted into the Navy, and served in the Pacific.

At the time he and my Grandmother had 6 young children

(I think she was pregnant with the 6th when he left).

My Mom is their 7th child,

and she was born after the war.

My Grandpa Virgil died when my Mom was 15,

so I didn't get to meet him, but have always

enjoyed hearing stories about him.

This is my Dad's Dad, Garth.

He served in the Pacific, also.

Grandpa didn't like to talk about the war.

We know that a lot of his friends didn't come home,

and the ones that did called him "Lucky."

Bentley and I went with my parents to see Grandpa

just before he passed away.

(My Dad, Bentley, Grandpa, and me in 2003.)

This Memorial Day we didn't visit their graves

(both are buried in California),

but we did stop and talk a little about them

and about their service.

Happy Memorial Day.

Spring Recital

(Maxwell, Jonah, and Bentley after their recital on Thursday)

After school on Thursday

(and after the recorder concert and machine fair),

the three big boys had their spring piano recital.

They worked really hard on their pieces this semester

and all played well at the recital.

I got to play Jonah's duet with him because

he and his partner had some problems putting it together.

(Counting and 6 year olds are not a great match.)

Jonah and I also had some problems.

I think it might have been one of the most

difficult things I have ever played,

but it was neat to get to play with him.

Here are the links to their videos:

Jonah's Solo (from the Lion King)

Jonah's Duet (Shoo Fly)

Maxwell's Solo (from Star Wars)

Bentley's Solos (a hymn and a song from Harry Potter)

3rd Grade Simple Machines Fair and Recorder Concert

On Thursday, the 3rd grade classes at out school

showcased their recorder skills in a concert,

and shared the simple machines they had made.

Bentley's teacher deserves a medal for teaching

60 kids (give or take a couple) to play the recorder.

I was at school during some of their rehearsals,

and it was pretty rough stuff.

However, things came together nicely,

and the concert was really good.

(Partly because each song was so short,

and partly because they actually sounded pretty good.)

The kids made their simple machines at home,

and then brought them to share after the concert.

Bentley called his a "torture machine."

I call it a "Ninja Launcher."

I'm really glad that John was willing to help

Bentley with this project.

Here are a few short videos from the concert.

(Bentley picked his favorite three.)

Up and Down

Aura Lee

A Mozart Melody

And the closing remarks, given by Bentley.

Jonah's Kindergarten Program

Yesterday I got to see Jonah's kindergarten program.

He told me exactly where to sit, and when to film.

I took some unauthorized pictures,

but he doesn't seem too upset by them.

If you click on the collage, you can see some

of the awesome expressions he made while singing.

Jonah is so awesome.

He is excited to be a first grader,

but he has loved his kindergarten teacher.

When I have an especially good day,

he will tell me that I am *almost* as nice as his teacher.

Here's the song Jonah asked me to record,

and his (and a few friends') parts in the program.

He was asked to learn the "letter A" part at the last

minute because another student wasn't there.

Timp Track Meet

Yesterday, Bentley and Maxwell participated in their

second track meet. They were supposed to have

one last week, but it was postponed due to rain.

I'm glad the sun came out for a couple of days

and allowed the kids to attend another meet.

Both boys seemed to have more fun at this meet,

and were pretty happy with their performances.

Ruby once again wore her princess dress.

This time she added cowboy boots and pom poms.

Milo and Jonah had fun climbing all over the bleachers.

I'm thinking about getting a babysitter for the next meet. :)

I recorded a couple of the boys' events.

Neither Bentley or Maxwell was thrilled with my choices,

so next time I guess I'll have to ask before I film.

Anyway, here are the two video links:

Maxwell 50 meter dash

Bentley 100 meter dash

My favorite quote of the meet came after Bentley

finished running the 1600 meter.

I asked him how it felt, and he said that

"It hurt a lot!"

No time for waving during this race;

he had a better idea of the pacing thanks to

some help from his Dad.

Funny Girl

Week in Review

The past week was pretty special.

Grandpa and Grandma R were here for

Elizabeth's special day,

and we got to spend some time with them.

We just wish we'd had better weather for them.

It rained most of the week, and it was even

too wet for Bentley and Maxwell's track meet.

On Friday, our elementary school held a Dance Festival.

It was scheduled to be outside at the high school

football field, but because of the weather it was

moved indoors to the field house.

Even with that change, the kids all got wet.

They had to walk from the elementary school to

the high school in some serious rain.

The Dance Festival was really amazing.

The entire student body and the teachers learned

a dance to "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz.

Then, each grade level performed a dance.

Even the kindergarten classes danced!

I took a few photos, but mostly filmed the boys' dances.

Here are two photos for each of our boys.

And here are the links to their dances.

Opening Number

Kindergarten Dance - Jonah

2nd Grade Dance - Maxwell

3rd Grade Dance - Bentley

Closing Number

Bentley, Maxwell, and Jonah - Dynamite (at home)

Our school has done some awesome things this year.

I think this one is one of the coolest.

I'm so glad the boys are getting opportunities to try

new things - running, dance, drama, service, etc.

It's been a good year.

But I'm still looking forward to a break. :)

9 more school days till Summer Vacation!

Hurray for Homely!

Congratulations Dad!

(He won with 74% of the vote.)

Wish we could have been there to vote for you!

Great News!

"Bentley" is the #1 rising BOYS name for 2010!

(Maybe the only positive thing to come from MTV

and their questionable series.)

Bentley is thrilled that his name is getting "popular."

I am thrilled that it is popular for BOYS.

Two More Champions

Maxwell and Bentley have joined The Champions Club

at our school, following in their little brother's footsteps.

Both big boys had at least one requirement that

they struggled with, but they did it!

Now the school year can end.

Countdown - 13 school days left.

Dancing Queen

Ruby's long awaited dance recital was yesterday.

John and I took all the boys to watch her,

and she did a wonderful job.

(But the boys' favorite dance was an Indiana Jones

dance by the boys ages 8 -18. Don't tell Ruby.)

Here she is with her two teachers.

The one on the left has been with the BYU program for

a while. I think she taught a couple of the kids' moms.

The one on the right was her helper, but

also had a class of her own.

I recorded Ruby's performance, but it was too big

for vimeo so I added it to youtube.

You can watch it HERE if you're interested.

The quality isn't great, but you can see her dance.

On Track

Because we don't have enough to do, we let Bentley

and Maxwell sign up for the city's track club.

They had their first meet last week.

It was cold. And windy.

Pretty typical for spring sports around here,

but it had been a nice day, so I was hoping for warmth.

Maybe next time.

The track meet seemed like organized chaos.

Each kid had four stickers with their name on them

stuck to their t-shirt. Each time they participated

in an event, they would hand over one sticker.

When they are out of stickers, they are finished.

I'm not sure whether it was due to the cold weather,

or if it is standard at the track meets, but the

early events filled up pretty fast.

I overheard one parent say that they would pay their

child $10 to run one of the earlier races so that

they could go home. The last event was the

4 x 400 relay, and I'm not sure they had enough

people there from any of the teams to run it.

Anyway, our boys ran the 4 x 100 relay,

the 1600 (Max was "too young," but ran it anyway),

and did the standing long jump.

Bentley tried discus, and Maxwell ran the 200.

The mile was a switch for them because they're used

to pacing for the 5k, but they did pretty well.

However, after the race, John asked both Bentley and

Maxwell if they wanted to know how to tell if you're

running too slowly in a race. When they said "yes,"

John told them, "You know you are running too

slowly if you are able to wave at people."

But it was really cute to see them smile and wave

as they ran past their family.

As for the spectators,

Ruby wore one of her princess dresses to the meet,

and was excited to find another princess there!

It was a challenge to keep Milo from

running out on the track and joining a race.

And Jonah decided that he would rather play soccer

than run track with his brothers next year.

Rainy Day Picnic

Mother's Day or "I Love You, I Love You Not"

Next year I think maybe we'll try to sneak

Mother's Day past the kids.

I told them that what I really wanted was for them

to be extra good on Mother's Day.

They nailed the "extra" part,

but sort of missed the "good" part.

It was a long day.

However, they did do some sweet things

leading up to Mother's Day.

Here's a summary of their compliments:

Ruby thinks I'm "awesome."

Jonah loves me because he can play computer games.

Maxwell thinks I'm happiest when I get to sleep in.

(There might be some truth to that, but he chose

to write it on a framed gift for me. This will definitely

put me in the running for Mother of the Year.)

Here are Bentley's Top 10 Reasons Why He Loves Mom:

1. Mom makes him buttermilk pancakes instead of

oatmeal pancakes (like his Dad)

2. Mom buys him cheeseburgers

3. Mom bought him a game cube (John's idea, btw)

4. Mom doesn't brag because she has a holiday

(aka Mother's Day)

5. Mom gives him allowance every week

6. Mom doesn't make him do the dishes

7. Mom celebrates his birthday

8. Mom let him have a mohawk

9. Mom buys him clothes

10. After Mom cleans his sheets she makes his bed for him

Maxwell's 2nd grade class put together a
Mother's Day Program. They sang songs about

Mothers and Grandmothers, each child had a part,

and they ended with a melodrama.

Maxwell got his part because he told his teacher

that I am a slow driver (speed limit!!!).

2nd Grade Mother's Day Program from jenny on Vimeo.

May Five

This was supposed to be my backup photo.

I quickly snapped it before we left for school,

and had hopes of getting a better one later on.

The day got away from us, though, and this

will have to do for our May kids' photo.

Here's a quick update on each of them.

Bentley - Still likes basketball. He listens to

"Teach Me How to Jimmer" every night while

he falls asleep. He had his first track meet this week.

Two teachers this week (one school, one church)

have told me about times that he was nice to

girls in his classes. A refreshing change from

reports that he was being goofy again.

Maxwell - Recovering from his accident yesterday.

He went to school after lunch today (we kept him home

in the morning to watch him, but he wanted to attend

a Mother's Day Program rehearsal in the afternoon).

His return caused a little bit of a stir.

Evidently the sight of so much blood yesterday was

kind of traumatizing for some of the kids.

He also had his first track meet this week.

Jonah - Still loves soccer. I think we are going to go

ahead and sign him up for soccer for fall '11/spring '12.

Heaven help us. I am not ready for soccer.

He has decided that he really likes robots.

If Halloween were tomorrow, he would get a robot costume.

Ruby - Getting ready for her dance recital next week.

She likes to pretend that she and Milo are married,

and that they have a new baby.

It's pretty cute until she calls me "Grandma."

I'm not ready for that, either.

Milo - Talking a ton. He is a little parrot.

He repeats almost every word that we say.

He listened to the book "Oh My Baby Bear"

a week or two ago, and now insists on doing

everything "me self."

He loves the book "Cowboy Small,"

and insists on sleeping with it each night.

One day he will probably have a horse named Cactus.

That seems to be a highlight of the book for him.

Accident Max - Take 5

Maxwell had quite a few accidents during the first

4 years of his life. The past few years, however,

have been relatively uneventful.

It was really nice.

But today at afternoon recess, he had an accident.

While playing basketball, he somehow slipped

and fell. He landed on his right elbow,

and on the back of his head.

One of the 2nd grade teachers spotted the crowd

gathering around Max, and ushered him into

the school, down the hall, and to the office.

She used the back of his shirt to keep the blood

from spraying on the floor, so he looked pretty bad.

The secretary called our home, and warned that

they thought he might need stitches.

I think this information might have been worse

then the pain he was experiencing.

Poor Maxwell was so frightened.

I got him home, and John called the doctor.

They said to bring him in at 4pm - 1 1/2 hours away.

So, we tried to clean him up and bandaged him

as best we could, gave him some pain medicine,

and put Toy Story 3 on Netflix instant play

in an effort to distract him.

(Hurray for netflix!)

As a side note, Bentley made record time

getting home from school today.

He had heard that Maxwell was hurt, so he ran

the entire way. He wanted to find out what happened

and if Max was okay. (10 minutes vs. his usual 20 min. walk)

Anyway, I took Maxwell into the doctor, and after

a short wait and a visit with our pediatrician,

the head inspection began.

Max had scraped the back of his head,

he has a huge goose egg

and his head split, but it wasn't complete.

The doctor scrubbed,

and pushed, and stretched, but that layer of skin held.

Which means - NO STITCHES!!!

Dr. S said that he could put a suture or two in,

but that he didn't think it was necessary.

Maxwell and I didn't argue.

So now, we try to keep him from bumping his head again in

the near future, and watch him for signs of a concussion.

Past Accidents:

2005 - involving a brother and a plastic golf club

2006 -an eyebrow meets the carpet at church

2007 #1 -his chin is introduced to the living room floor

2007 #2 - a run-in with a wall

Wedding Fever and Curly Rue

I keep thinking that I'll have time to do some real posts,

but I'm getting further and further behind,

so here's a quick recap of Ruby's weekend.

Saturday night, she asked me to put her hair in

curlers. After a lot of persuasion, I convinced

her to let me take them out before church on Sunday.

I was not allowed to touch her hair after

removing the curlers. She loved her curls.

On Friday, Ruby, Milo, and I watched highlights

from the royal wedding. I was four years old when

Diana and Charles got married, and I remember

hearing about that wedding, and probably seeing clips.

Maybe my 4 year old Ruby will remember this one.

She loved watching the bride,

and later tried to create her own dress and veil.

Also this weekend, she ran in two races

and played in a bounce house for two hours.

She has a pretty good life. ;-)

Champions!

On Saturday, our elementary school hosted the

Champions Fun Run/Walk to raise money for new

playground equipment. They had several different

races. A 50 yard dash, a 1 mile, and a 5K.

I expected to sign the kids up the the 50 yard dash,

but they wanted to run the 5K.

So for the last three weeks, John had run each morning

with Bentley, Maxwell, and Jonah to prepare for the race.

When we woke up to snow on Saturday morning,

I had second (or third thoughts) but the kids were

excited and ready to go.

We bundled up and went to the school.

Ruby ran the 50 yard dash for the kindergarten

and under kids. Then the two longer races started.

John and the three big boys took off on their 5K, and

I walked and pushed Ruby and Milo in the stroller.

Ruby was too excited to ride the entire time.

She ran the first half of each lap,

then collapsed in the stroller for the back half.

Our trio brought up the rear in the 1 mile race,

but made it in time to see the first 5K finishers.

John came in 11th, and the boys finished

23rd (Bentley), 24th (Max),

and 27th (Jonah), out of 68 runners.

Our three boys shaved about 5 minutes off of

their best times. They were awesome!

Especially considering the fact that the ground

was covered in snow that morning. It was cold!

Our nearly 8 year old stroller bit the dust a week ago,

so our friends were kind enough to loan us theirs.

I am pretty sure I would have ended up carrying Ruby

for part of each lap if we hadn't had a double stroller.

We had a lot of fun and hope the school does it

again next year (only without the snow).